Luke 14-16

Luke 14

Healing on the Sabbath 

• Jesus at house of a Pharisee
• Man with dropsy present
  • an old term for what we now call edema
• Jesus asks is it lawful to heal on Sabbath? They remain silent.
• Jesus heals the man and exposes hypocrisy (as they’d help an animal)

Parable of the Wedding Feast 

• Guests choosing places of honor
• Jesus teaches to take lowest place
  • humble will be exalted
  • exalt self and you will be humbled

Jesus mentions to those who invited Him to invite the lowly to dinner as they cannot repay you. (Do not live in self-centeredness, or only associate with people who can give you something in return).

A man proclaims “Blessed is he who shall eat bread in the kingdom of God!”

Parable of the Great Banquet 

• A man has a great feast
• Guests make excuses not to come
  • field, oxen, marriage
• Master then invites poor, crippled, blind, then outsiders

The Cost of Discipleship 

• Large crowds following Jesus 
• Jesus teaches:
  • must love Him above all
  • carry your cross
  • count the cost
• Examples:
  • building a tower
    • See the cost of the build
  • going to war
    • Are you prepared? 

Salt that loses flavor is useless

Luke 15

Parable Chapter ! 

Lost Sheep 

• Pharisees complain that Jesus welcomes sinners
• Parable shepherd leaves 99 for 1 lost sheep
• There is joy in heaven over one sinner who repents

Lost Coin 

• Woman loses coin and searches carefully
  • Rejoices when coin is found
• Same point – there is joy over repentance

Prodigal Son

Younger Son

• Takes inheritance early
• Wastes it in reckless living and ends in poverty
• Comes to senses and returns home
• Father runs to him and restores him 

Older Son

• Angry at celebration, feels overlooked
• Father invites him in
• a repentant sinner vs the self-righteous

Luke 16

Parable of the Dishonest Manager 

• Jesus speaks this time to His disciples: 
• A manager wastes his master’s money and is about to get fired
• Decides to act shrewdly (reducing people’s debts to the master) before being removed
• Master commends him for his shrewdness
• Jesus is teaching (using a bad man as a good example?):
  • be wise with worldly resources
  • use them for eternal purposes

The Law and the Kingdom

• Pharisees love money and were upset at Jesus’ teaching on earthly wealth 
• Jesus exposes their hypocrisy and says God knows their hearts
• Jesus shows that the new order of things fulfills the Law
  • For example, law concerning marriage

Rich Man and Lazarus

• Jesus tells a story (not a parable? Actual story?)
• A rich man lives in luxury and a man named Lazarus is poor and suffering
• Both die:
  • Lazarus goes to Abraham’s bosom
  • rich man goes to Hades
• Rich man asks for relief and asks to warn brothers
• Response:
  • they have Moses and prophets
  • if they won’t listen, they won’t believe 

From https://enduringword.com/bible-commentary/luke-16/

iv. Hades is something of a waiting place until the day of final judgment (Revelation 20:11-13). Yet since Jesus’ finished work on the cross, there is no waiting for believers who die; they go directly to heaven, to the presence of the Lord (2 Corinthians 5:6-8). It is reasonable to think that when Jesus visited Hades as part of His redemptive work (Acts 2:24-27, Acts 2:31) and when Jesus preached in Hades (1 Peter 3:18-19), that Jesus set the captives in Hades free (Ephesians 4:8-9, Isaiah 61:1). Jesus’ work and preaching offered salvation for those like Lazarus, who in faith awaited it (Hebrews 11:39-40), and it also sealed the condemnation of the wicked and unbelieving.

Application

We learn that humility matters more than status. God loves the true repentant. He pursues the lost.